Fill opening closure for steam iron



Nov. 5, 1957 w. G. SECK ETAL FILL OPENING CLOSURE FOR STEAM IRON Fi ledOct. e, 1954 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Nov. 5, 1957 w. e. SECK ETAL 2,811,793

FILL OPENING CLQSURE FOR STEAM IRON 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 6. 1954Nov. 5, 1957 w, G, sEcK -rm 2,811,793

FILL OPENING CLOSURE FOR STEAM IRON Filed Oct. 6, 1954 4 Sheets-Sheet 3Fig. 5

9 W. G. SECK ETAL FILL OPENING CLOSURE FOR STEAM IRON 4 Sheets-Sheet 4Filed Oct. 6, 1954 Fig. 6

United States Patent FILL OPENING CLOSURE FOR STEAM IRON Werner G. Seekand Warren A. Humphrey, Canton, Ohio, assignors to The Hoover Company,North Canton, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application October 6, 1954,Serial No. 460,621

6 Claims. (Cl. 3877) This invention relates to electric irons and moreparticularly to an electric iron which may be readily converted for useas a dry iron or for use as a steam iron.

Specifically, according to the present invention, the iron is providedwith a reservoir, a fill opening therefor and a closure for the fillopening which is operated from the control dial for the thermostat. Thecontrol dial is provided with a fill setting, an 011 setting, a steamsetting and various settings for the dry ironing of various fabrics. Theclosure for the fill opening is closed for all settings of the dialexcept the fill setting at which setting the dial is operative to openthe fill opening closure.

According to one modification of the present invention the reservoir isadapted to be filled with the iron resting on its heel support and thevalve for controlling the flow of water from the reservoir is actuatedindependently of the dial setting.

According to a second modification of the present invention thereservoir is adapted to be filled with the iron resting on its soleplateand the valve for controlling the flow of water from the reservoir isclosed by the actuation of the dial to its fill setting.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent as the description proceeds when taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a side view of an iron partly in section and showing onemodification of the present invention applied thereto.

Fig. 2 is a segmental view of the iron of Fig. 1, partly in section andtaken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the front part of the iron of Fig. 1showing the position of the parts with the fill opening closure in openposition.

Fig. 4 is a detailed view of the cam on the dial which actuates the fillopening closure.

Fig. 5 is a side view of an iron partly in section showing a secondmodification of the invention applied thereto and taken on line 5-5 ofFig. 7 looking in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken on line 6-6 of Fig. 7 looking in thedirection of the arrows, and

Fig. 7 is a partial top view of the iron of Fig. 5;

Description of Figs. 1 to 4, inclusive ly into the hollow front leg 15.Water from the reservoiris discharged therefrom thru anopening in thevalve body 18 the opening being opened or closed by a .valve stemPatented Nov. 5, 1957 19, extending upwardly thru the reservoir 16, thefill tube 17 and the hollow front leg 15 to the top of the handle, whereit is actuated by a manually actuatable controlled by a control dial 27.

The parts so far described are constructed and assembled in a mannermore fully explained in the patent to Vance, 2,668,378 dated February 9,1954 and need not be further described herein.

The iron thus far described may be readily converted from steam ironingto dry ironing by operating the.

actuator 20 to close the opening in the valve body 18 and by turning thedial 27 to the proper temperature sett ng for the fabric to be ironedeven though the reservoir 16 still contains water.

When the iron is being used as a steam iron, or as a dry iron when waterremains in the reservoir 16, it is desirable that the fill tube opening25 be closed to prevent water from splashing out onto the fabric as theiron is manipulated during ironing operations.

. According to the present invention that is automatically;

accomplished when the control dial 27 is moved to its steam setting orto any one of its dry settings. The dial 2 7 is provided with an indiciaplate 30 on top of which is marked indicia to indicate the varioussettings of the dial. i

As shown in Fig. 2 the plate 30 is marked with fill, off and steamsettings and a portion of the settings for dry ironing, the remainderbeing on the opposite side of the steam setting from those shown, ithaving been found that the proper steam setting lies between the upperand lower settings for dry ironing. The various settings marked on theplate 30 are correlated to a reference point 31 on the base of the fronthandle leg 15.

As in the patent to Vance, above referred to, a stop is provided on thecontrol shaft of the thermostat so as to limit rotation of the dial 27to less than 360. The stop is provided so that the 011 setting of thedial cannot be rotated clockwise past the reference point 31. A closureplate 32 is pivoted at 33 to the fill tube 17. so as to closethe'opening 25 when in the position shown in Fig. 1. The closure 32 isadapted to be actuated by a lever 34 connected to the closure plate 32by a pin-andslot connection as shown in Fig. 1. The lever 34 is pivotedat 35 to a bracket mounted on the cover shell 12 and is spring biased bya spring 36 so as to normally hold the cover 32 in closed position asshown in Fig. 1. The lever 34 is provided with an upwardly extending end37 which cooperates with a cam 38 (Fig. 4) on the under side of dial 27at the fill setting in a manner which will presently appear.

Operation of Figs. 1 t0 4, inclusive If the reservoir 16 is empty and itis desired to use the iron for steam ironing, the dial 27 is turned tothe fill setting whereby the cam 38 will engage the end 37 of lever .34,pivot it counterclockwise against the bias of spring 36 and in turnpivot the closure plate 32 clockwise" to open position as shown in Fig;3.

The iron may then .be placed on its heel and waterpoured into the.opening 25 whereby it will flow into the is controlled by thermostat 26,the temperature setting of which may be' reservoir 16 thru the fill tube17. The dial 27 may be then turned to the steam setting and the cam 38will ride oil the end 37 of lever 34 and permit the spring 36 to pivotthe lever clockwise and move plate 32 to closed position, as shown inFig. 1, whereby the iron may be returned to its soleplate and used inthe usual manner without any danger of water splashing thru the opening25 onto the fabric being ironed.

If the iron is to be used as a dry iron, the dial 27 is merely turned tothe proper dry setting, it being noted that the closure plate 32 willremain closed and will also remain closed when the dial 27 is moved toits 01f setting, the plate 32 being opened only when the dial 27 ismoved to its fill setting which is beyond the off setting.

If it is desired to empty the reservoir 16 in order that the iron may bestored, the dial 27 is moved to its fill setting and the water merelypoured thru the opening 25. The residual heat in the soleplate willevaporate any water remaining in the boiler and the steam passages.

Description of Figs. t0 7, inclusive The soleplate, thermostat and dialof the second modification is substantially the same as that of thefirst and where the parts are the same they have been given the samereference numerals. The rear ends of the cover shell 12' and thereservoir 16' are constructed and assembled to the soleplate in the samemanner as in the first modification, while they have been modified attheir front ends as will presently appear.

At its front end, the reservoir 16 is provided with a fill opening 40beneath an opening 41 in the cover shell 12 thru which the reservoir 16'may be filled with water with the iron resting on its soleplate. Aclosure plate 42 is pivoted to the cover shell 12 at 43 in front of theopening 41. The metal of the reservoir 16' is depressed at 44 and 45 toreceive a U-shaped gasket 46 and a wider transversely extending gasket47 which cooperate with the closure plate 42 to seal the opening 40against leakage.

A link 48 is pivoted at its upper end at 49 to the closure plate 42, thepivot point 49 lying rearwardly of the pivot point 43 for the closureplate 42. At its lower end the link is pivoted at 50 to a lever 51,which is pivoted at 52 to a bracket 53 secured to the bottom of areservoir 16'. The lever 51 is spring biased clockwise by a spring 54and has an extended portion 55 to the rear of the pivot point 52.

A pin 56 is reciprocably mounted in a member 57 mounted on the top wallof the reservoir 16, its lower end cooperating with the end 55 of lever51 while its upper end cooperates with a cam 38 on the under side ofdial 27 in a manner which will presently appear. A seal 58 is providedabout the pin 56 to prevent leakage of water from the reservoir 16'.

The opening in the valve body 18 is adapted to be opened and closed byvalve stem 60 pivoted at its upper end at 61 to a lever 62 which in turnis pivoted at 63 to a bracket 64 secured to the bottom of the reservoir16'. The lever 62 is biased by a spring 65 in a counterclockwisedirection so as to normally hold the valve stem 60 in a position toclose the opening in the valve body 18. The lever 62 is provided with anextension 66 beyond its pivot point 63 which cooperates with a pin 67reciprocably mounted in a member 68 suitably secured to the top wall ofthe reservoir 16', as shown in Fig. 6, a seal 69 being provided toprevent leakage from the reservoir. The upper end of the pin 67cooperates with the cam 70 on the under side of the dial 27 in a mannerwhich will presently appear.

The indicia carrying plate 30 and the indicia thereon, as shown in Fig.7, is substantially the same as in the first modification, the indiciabeing correlated witha reference point 71 formed on the cover shell 12adjacent to dial 27. It is to be noted that the cam 70 is positionedadjacent the steam setting so as to engage the upper end of pin 67 andopen the water valve only when the dial is at its steam setting. The cam38 is positioned to engage the upper end of pin 56 and open the closure42 when the dial is set at its fill setting. However, the cam 38' is notwide enough to engage the pin 67 when the dial is at its fill settingthus assuring that the water valve will be closed when the reservoir isbeing filled. Additionally, the arrangement is such that the water valveis closed at all dial settings except for the steam setting.

A handle 89, of the cantilever type, is secured to the rear end of thecover shell 12' in a suitable manner, as shown in Fig. 5.

Operation of Figs. 5 to 7, inclusive If the reservoir 16' is empty andit is desired to use the iron as a steam iron, the iron is placed on itssoleplate and the dial 27 turned to its fill position. The cam 38' onthe under side of the dial 27 will engage the top of pin 56, force itdownwardly and thus move the lever 51 in a counterclockwise directionagainst the bias spring 54. That will cause the link 48 to be movedupwardly and pivot the closure plate 42 to open position, as shown indotted lines in Fig. 5. At the same time, the cam 70 will ride off ofthe top of pin 67 and permit the spring to move the lever 62counterclockwise and move the stem 60 downwardly to close the opening inthe valve body 18 thus assuring that the water valve is closed when theclosure plate 42 is open.

Water is then poured into the reservoir 16 thru the openings 40 and 41after which the dial 27 is returned to its steam setting. During suchmovement, the cam 38 will ride off of the upper end of pin 56,permitting the spring 54 to move the lever 51 clockwise and move theclosure plate 42 to its closed position, as shown in full lines in Fig.5.

As the dial approaches its steam setting, the cam will engage the topend of pin 67, depress it, move the lever 62 clockwise and raise thevalve stem 60 from the opening in the valve body 18, thus converting theiron for use in steam ironing.

For dry ironing the dial is moved to the proper dry setting. During suchmovement the cam 70 will ride off of the top of pin 67 and the watervalve will be closed as previously described.

It is to be noted that in the second modification, as well as in thefirst, the dial must be moved away from all active ironing settingsbefore the reservoir can be filled. Also, according to the secondmodification the water valve must be closed before the reservoir can befilled.

While we have shown and described but two modifications of ourinvention, it is to be understood that those modifications are to betaken as illustrative only and not in a limiting sense. We do not wishto be limited to the specific structure shown and described, but wish toinclude all equivalent variations thereof except as limited to the scopeof the claims.

We claim:

1. A steam iron comprising, a soleplate, heating means for saidsoleplate, a thermostatic control for said heating means, a control dialfor regulating the setting of said thermostatic control, a waterreservoir positioned over said soleplate, a fill opening for saidreservoir, a movably mounted closure plate for said fill opening andactuating means responsive to movement of said control dial for openingand closing said closure plate.

2. A steam iron according to claim 1 in which said control dial has afill setting and in which said actuating means is operative to open saidclosure plate when said dial is moved to its fill setting and isoperative to close said closure plate when said dial is moved away fromits fill setting.

3. A steam iron according to claim 2 including valve means forcontrolling the flow of water from said reservoir and means responsiveto movement of said control dial to its fill" setting for closing saidvalve means.

4. A steam iron according to claim 2 including valve means forcontrolling the flow of water from said reservoir, said control dialhaving a steam setting, actuating means responsive to movement of saiddial to its steam setting for opening said valve means and beingresponsive to movement of said dial to its fill setting for moving saidvalve to its closed position.

5. A steam iron comprising, a soleplate, a heater for said soleplate, athermostat for controlling the temperature of said heater, a waterreservoir above said soleplate, a cover shell enclosing said reservoir,a control dial rotatably mounted on said cover shell and connected tosaid thermostat to adjust the same for different temperature settings, afill opening for said reservoir, 'a movably mounted closure plate forsaid opening, actuating means for said closure plate normally biased tohold said closure plate in closed position, said dial having indiciathereon including a plurality of operative settings, an o setting, and afill setting and cam means carried by said dial at its fill setting forcooperating with said actuating means to open said closure plate whensaid dial is moved to its fill setting and inoperative to open saidclosure plate when said dial is moved to other settings.

6. A steam iron according to claim 5 including valve means forcontrolling the fiow of water from said reservoir, linkage means fornormally holding said valve means in closed position, one of saidoperative settings being a steam setting and means at said steam settingcoacting with said linkage means to open said valve means when said dialis moved to its steam setting and being inoperative to hold said valvemeans open at other settings including the fill setting.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

